As the amount of technology incorporated into a vehicle increases, so does the amount of information available to the driver and passengers of the vehicle. This information may become distracting to the driver while the vehicle is moving, especially when there is some level of interaction required. As a result, select interactive features in the vehicle may be disabled or restricted when the vehicle is in motion.
Disabling the interactive features of the vehicle based only on whether the vehicle is moving or stopped, however, may not be desirable. There may be situations when the vehicle is stopped for very short sessions, such as at a stop sign or stop-and-go heavy traffic, when enabling the interactive features is not ideal. On the other hand, there may be situations when the vehicle is stopped for longer periods and enabling select interactive features would be less of a distraction, such as at a traffic signal or railroad crossing. However, when the driver is engaged with the interactive features, the driver's attention may be diverted from the relevant traffic situation, such as a changing traffic signal or the opening of the railroad crossing.
To optimize the driver's access to the interactive features, it would be desirable to have the interactive features enabled or disabled based on more than just the motion of the vehicle by monitoring and adapting to the changes of the vehicle's surrounding environment.